Beau makes a point

Well, he attempted to make a point. Equipped with these ear thingeys that are meant for the gun range. omg, no you didn't!


Really?! I have the TV volume too loud while you are trying to read?! Mr. Deaf-as-they-come-surround-sound-must-be-full-blast-during-any-shoot-'em-up-movie needs the TV volume down?! Ha! (For reference, the receiver never really needs to be over 36, I had it at 29, he never has it below 45).


I can't tell you how loud he has the volume at all times (even when he's not watching) and how frequently I have to ask him to turn the volume down! So this picture is just too much and Mr. Reynolds, I will turn down the volume as soon as you turn the volume down!!

He was too cute trying to make his point ;-)

16 Weeks (or 4 months in normal time!)

I love the weeks where people can easily compute my progress! I have kind of gotten a kick out of the few seconds after I tell people "I'm 14 weeks." or 15 weeks or anything that makes people take a second to do the math in their head ;-) So, here we are at an easy 4 months and I'm just thrilled! Soon I will be able to feel the baby move, which I think I did feel yesterday. But it could have been gas bubbles so I don't know. But I look forward to the days that it becomes more distinct!

How your baby's growing:

Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.

Once again, caught a little off guard b/c I consider an apple larger than or the same size as an avocado but I'm not one to argue with the professionals and their fruit comparisons.

Switching gears: If Hanky Panky undies (& the very similar, uber-comfy Gap lace undies) are "One size fits most", does that mean I can wear them through pregnancy? Or is the exception to "most" prego ladies? They are super stretchy and comfy and thanks to my sweet, sweet friends and one awesome lingerie shower, I can maybe avoid buying maternity undies. I'm not sure how my body changes will affect the under garments in my life but I guess I will find out in due time...

A Letter

Dear Miss Paige,

I want to first thank you for the many years we have spent together (even though you don't know me). An extra bounce in my step, heightened self image, and possibly landing the very handsome Beau Daniel Reynolds may all be attributed to your designs. You should know that, thanks to your jeans, I now get personal calls and hand-written cards from "Denim Specialists" at Nordstrom (actually, this is annoying). I can say that over the years I may have had short love affairs with other designer jeans but you, oh you, won me over with your slimming cuts, lack of baggy butt after multiple wears, and great shades of denim. Because of all this, I have always let you name your price and assault my checking account without a moment's thought. So, you can imagine my delight when I discovered your Maternity line!! Holy denim, you are looking out for me!! No doubt you can change the shape of pregnant bums all over the world and probably have been for quite some time! However, I must tell you that I was plain SHOCKED when I saw that the price tag of this life saver is more than that of your regular jeans! What?! How you can abandon me in my time of need!! No doubt you are probably some beautiful, uber-slim, lettuce-eating, vodka/tonic drinking celebu-designer that you have no idea what it is like to have your stomach begin at your pelvic bone or what it's like to need a new wardrobe with very few pleasant options. Gauging by your pricing of this "Specialty Denim", you probably also don't know what it's like to have to put your "fun money" towards prenatal vitamins and baby furniture and savings and creams for your stomach so that it doesn't look like a cat clawed it up and down. I mean I can't blame you. It has only been 3 short months and I can't even remember what I used to spend my money on. Spontaneous sushi dinner on Tuesday night? Sure! Cute, cute shoes I don't need? I'll take them in each color! Weekend trip to Chicago? Booked! I get it. Sadly, you don't. And because of this disconnect (well, mostly b/c of the insane price of your jeans), our relationship is over...until I'm finished having babies. Then we'll revisit this.

Goodbye (for now),

Your #1 Fan

15 Weeks (or this little light of mine)

I guess I haven't updated you on what's going on with me lately. My headaches have gone away (thank goodness!), my acne is worsening and I can tell that, probably by the end of this month, I will 100% be in maternity clothes. I'm ok with this since I got some great stuff for Christmas and took advantage of AWESOME sales recently. It was fun! I love a good bargain. Also, the sight in my right eye is way worse than it used to be. I have read that it's normal but will ask my doc on the 11th just to be sure.

I have come to realize that I too can write a pregnancy book. Just think of the strangest, ugliest, most uncomfortable symptoms and then blame them all on hormones. Done!

My book tells me that I really need to begin sleeping on my side - no more stomach and back business - SO sad about this! I LOVE sleeping on my stomach! So, insert tons of pillows and Beau jokes that he will soon be banished to the guest bedroom ;-) I am now beginning the ever-so-difficult journey of training Shelby to no longer walk on my stomach. She is so co-dependent and I have always let her walk anywhere she wants so this is tough. I know that it's fine, there are tons of pregos with a 2 or 3 or 4 year old climbing on their belly every day so I know she's not harming me but it's just uncomfortable for me. This will be a long process - wish me luck!

How your baby's growing:

Your growing baby now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of an apple). She's busy moving amniotic fluid through her nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in her lungs begin to develop. Her legs are growing longer than her arms now, and she can move all of her joints and limbs. Although her eyelids are still fused shut, she can sense light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, for instance, she's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but she is forming taste buds. Finally, if you have an ultrasound this week, you may be able to find out whether your baby's a boy or a girl! (Don't be too disappointed if it remains a mystery, though. Nailing down your baby's sex depends on the clarity of the picture and on your baby's position. He or she may be modestly curled up or turned in such a way as to "hide the goods.")

A Look Back at 2009

A lot happened around the world this year and for the most part, anyone you ask is happy to say good-bye to 2009. With the economy falling and with the highest foreclosure and unemployment rates in years, it's understandable. Beau and I have been very blessed this year and have been largely unaffected by these crazy changes. In fact, it makes me kind of sad that so many people are ready to bid farewell to this year when it has been the best year of my life. Here is a look back at why I will never forget 2009 and all of it's blessings:

January 17, 2009 - Couples' Shower!

I have already blogged about this but again, we were SO touched that so many of our friends hosted and so many others came to the shower thrown in our honor! We loved every minute of it and it was great to see everyone! It was also the last time Beau and I would be in the Holidays' Corpus Christi home before they sold it :-(Sad face for me but they were thrilled to sell! ;-)

March 21 - 22, 2009 - Bride's Weekend!

Some people may call this a bachelorette party, I call it a Bride's Weekend ;-) Full of manis/pedis, dinner and bottle service, my sisters really know how to throw a party! Definitely one of the highlights of my year!

April 1, 2009 - I was promoted!

At the office, I was promoted to Account Supervisor of The Cheesecake Factory business. April was a great month ;-)

April 8, 2009 - New Homeowners!

Yes, we took a risk in the unstable marketplace and (luckily) came out on top. We found the perfect home for us and we like to think that it was much more affordable than this time last year. As I have blogged before, there are SO many things we love about this house - it's really pretty perfect for our growing family :-)

(picture to come)

April 18, 2009 - We were married!

The best 4 days of my life were in Corpus Christ surrounded by family and friends with a great weekend of events celebrating us! A BIG thank you to my parents for making it all happen - we will never forget it! When can we do it again?

April 20 - 26, 2009 - Honeymoon in Tahiti!

Enough said but you can look back to this post for the details  oh and this one too of why this was the time of our lives and why we WILL be returning!

May 2009 - Andrea passed the Texas Bar!

So proud of Andrea for passing the Texas Bar earlier this year! Not only did she pass the Louisiana Bar the year before but this symbolized Step 1 to get her back to Texas. And now, she is happily living in Austin!!

May 9, 2009 - Dr. Amanda Caldwell

Woo hoo! My sister's years of hard work paid off and she received her Ph.D. is Psychology! We were SO proud! So proud we didn't take any pictures? I need to find those....hmm....

May 17, 2009 - Brinkley joined the family!

Our adorable Brinkley who has brought SO much fun to our lives came home! I can't imagine not having him around to torment Shelby and to be such a cuddly lover for us!

June - October 2009 - Beau was at home!

As you all know, Beau travels for a living for his job. So, when he was at home for most of the summer and into fall, I was thrilled! He became the best House Husband: cooking, cleaning, laundry and sleeping. And let me tell you, he is one hell of a napper. ;-) I loved having him home and it's really hard to have him back on the road now. Boo.

Two things about this picture: 1) We haven't even thought about how we want to decorate our master bedroom, hence the plainness - no judgment, and 2) I hope this captures the beauty of when Beau is home. A face-planted nap with his shoes still on while Shelby sits on his butt like a little guard dog. SO CUTE!! (click to enlarge photo)

October 2009 - We are having a baby!

Baby Reynolds is due June 26, 2010 and we couldn't be happier! Happier? No. More patient? Yes. :) This sono has already been posted but once again, this is at the 12 week appt. Next sonogram will be the second week of February to determine the sex. Can't wait!

December 2009 - A White Christmas!

We have had snow 3 times in December, one of which was on Christmas Eve! It was all really pretty - even when we had to drive in it. It's crazy to think that I had a White Christmas in Corpus Christi (2004) before most people my age ever had one in Dallas!

Happy New Year to you and your family and we can't WAIT for 2010! Hoping it's better than 2009 for all!

Nursery Furniture

Very excited to say that we ordered our baby furniture yesterday! We have done plenty of research, and very similar to the bedding process, this actually went pretty smoothly since I knew what I wanted and was able to quickly narrow down the collections. I am just thrilled! It's all coming together just as I envisioned it :-)

This picture doesn't entirely capture what we ordered. There are actually 2 cribs in this collections and OF COURSE the photo features the other crib. Ours is similar with the straight lines, minus that solid square in front and the back of it is more like the top of the mirror and solid on the sides. That's the best way I can describe it all. As I mentioned, we want something not so baby so that this furniture can grow with our growing child if we want it to. I can see this dresser in a teenager's room, can't you?

The best part about this furniture is the height of the dresser/changing table! Sadly, dresser height was our #1 priority so that wouldn't have to hunch over to change diapers so we totally lucked out with this one being the tallest of all! Tall people success! ;)

 (as always, click to enlarge the photo)

The sale price and after-Christmas special of throwing in the conversion kit for free (really?! that's like a $150 value! score) wasn't enough for Mr. Wheeler Dealer over here. He actually asked them to throw in the mattress for free. And while I had my head buried in my hand with embarrassment, the lady actually agreed to knock off almost 50% of the price of the mattress! Ask and you shall receive, I guess. This is exciting b/c it's some super duper #1 rated by consumer reports mattress and nicer than our own. Ha! This had us leaving feeling like we really got ourselves a deal but really what is shows is the amount of mark up they put on things in the first place!

In the coming months, I'm excited for my glider chair to be back in stock so that I can order it and testing out our navy blue paint colors! We are doing navy walls whether it's a boy or girl. (I LOVE navy and pink together and of course navy and baby blue is pretty cool too).Plus, there is a double chair rail in that room so the navy will only be on the bottom so it won't be too much. I can just see it all come together! :-)

Oh, and the jury is still out on the scary gorilla cute monkey.

14 Weeks (or the many faces of baby)

 How your baby's growing:

This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.

In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.

I don't buy peaches or lemons but I really thought a peach was the larger of the two. My mom pointed out that we may just be used to Texas peaches down here though ;-)  

Sweet or Scary?

I think I know your answer but let me explain! Ok first, I am 99% sure of how we will decorate the nursery and I assure you it is nothing less than tasteful! We are going with a simple, non-nursery feel so I thought perhaps the one punch of "nursery" that we could throw in is an oversized stuffed animal. And then I saw this! It's too much, isn't it?! When I first spotted it, it was on a top shelf in a dark storage closet at Beau's office today. They are moving offices and trying to get rid of things so we were there to pick up a laser printer and cartridges (something else we don't need). And how random it that they had this?! Anyway, when I first saw it, it looked like a sweet monkey!! We get it home and it looks like a HUGE gorilla!! He's sitting on a queen sized bed mind you (and has breasts larger than the average woman). Yikes. He was free so we can get rid of him but you know giant stuffed animals are expensive!

I wish I had video of Shelby's reaction to this guy. haha!! Scared out of her mind, which may be symbolic of our child's reaction to it :-(

Christmas Recap

What a wonderful week we have had! We hosted Christmas Eve at our house (when did I grow up??) and had Beau's family over for dinner. Everyone chipped in and brought food making the whole thing very easy and very delicious!! I couldn't have asked for more except for better weather for their drive home. While the constant snow that day was SO cool to watch, the weather continued to get worse. Ice covered the roadways, the snow storm made visibility tough, etc. It was a scary time including his brother having to pull his dad's truck back on the road a couple of times. Thank God everyone made it home safely!

First thing Christmas morning we headed to DFW for our flight to Corpus! Beau and my dad surprised my mom and I by flying Beau and I home for Christmas. We were originally not supposed to see them at all, which in my entire lifetime I've never been away from my family for Christmas. I don't really know how I thought that would work. We had a slight flight delay but made it home in time for their annual Christmas Day lunch - AMAZING! My parents continue to out do themselves - how does that even happen?! Hope no one ever expects that of my cooking!

After lunch we opened gifts, which is always a treat. I received much-needed maternity clothes and gift cards for more much-needed maternity clothes ;-) Oh! And I got THESE! (the second pair, that is). I really never dreamed that my Mom Santa would surprise me with these but I'm just thrilled! They are everything I hoped they would be! ;-) But really, my mom and I are so baby-focused right now that I really didn't expect anything non-baby so it was quite the surprise!

The whole weekend was just great. We had our Surf Club fix and overall, the weekend was too short. I got to see my sister Amanda one last time before she moves to Columbus, OH. :-( It was good to see her. She plans to come home for the birth of the baby...we will get her home one way or another! Maybe Andrea and I just need to keep having key events happen in our lives to get her back here to visit! :-)

I'm super sad Christmas is over. No more Christmas music and time to put away the decorations. Boo.

Helleau 2nd Trimester!

I woke up like a kid on Christmas morning! I just couldn't wait to read this week's update and see what's going on inside of me! But wait. My book introduced me to the second trimester but Babycenter said I'm in the last week of my first trimester?!  I'm glad they don't teach "pregnancy time" in school - everyone would fail. Ugh. Anyway, see below for this week's update! The rest of the chapter was filled with stretch mark and mammary gland talk. Boo.

So, how is the Reynolds Family celebrating such a milestone? Well, Beau and Brinkley are hunting, I'm cleaning the house and Shelby is sleeping deep under her blanket. I know, I know, enough excitement to go 'round!

New this week:

Fingerprints have formed on your baby's tiny fingertips, her veins and organs are clearly visible through her still-thin skin, and her body is starting to catch up with her head — which makes up just a third of her body size now. If you're having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. Your baby is almost 3 inches long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce.

Also developing this week: your baby's vocal chords. Because sound can't travel through your uterus (your baby's current habitat), you won't be able to hear any sounds or cries just yet, but oh boy (or girl) — those vocal chords will get a good workout once that baby is born. 

My book tells me we are a peach but the babycenter photo is a shrimp (you are 0-2 babycenter.com), I am changing things up a bit and showing you my non-alien looking baby! We are making progess - your eyes are no longer on the sides of your head!!

Boots with the furrrrr

Beau gave me these for Christmas (he doesn't know it yet) and I just love them with both leggings and jeans. I could wear them every day! [side note: leggings are the new black for me, I am late to the game and just discovered them ...... sooo glad they are in style in time for my pregnancy]...

But are they too similar to these - which I'm hands-down-in-love with AND that also happen to be 50% off??

I didn't think I could fall more deeply in love with boots but I have! I love them all. Tall, short, heels, flat, aaagghhhh! It's overwhelming, especially because Beau tells me that we need baby furniture more than boots. He's so silly. Anyway, I'm not going to get them but a girl can dream...and she does.

Sono #2

Beau and I went for our second sonogram yesterday and it was so exciting! It's amazing how much clearer it was compared to the first sono done at 7 weeks. Here are some of the pics below. We also got a DVD of the baby in motion and the water ballet post below is true! It's so pretty to watch! It looks like the crown to rump length is just under 7 centimeters, or the size of a lime. See, the experts really DO know what they are talking about ;-).

Now I ask you, could this look any less comfortable?! If I was him/her, I would totally turn around and use that weird bump as a pillow. Silly goose. My friends also shared with me that the baby is now peeing on it's own. Yay. BUT, it swallows it. Nay. My confusion is that if I have the means to dispose of it, then there is no need to swallow. I mean, I am in the bathroom 20+ times a day after all. What's 1 or 2 more times? Oh well, it's not my place to argue with God.  

Enjoy my little photos!